Amanda Jeffery,
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Drayton Valley town council has heard concerns about the unhoused population in the community and is creating a task force to explore all possibilities.
CAO Jocelyn Whaley presented council with the proposed Terms of Reference at the July 9 Governance and Priorities meeting.
In the draft, Whaley has outlined the purpose of the task in the document.
“The Town of Drayton Valley council wishes to ensure that all options to manage the unhoused situation within the Drayton Valley Region have been fully explored and a formal strategy can be established going forward.”
In an interview, Whaley says certain situations that develop require forums other than social media both to educate people about an issue and to get quality feedback from residents. After receiving a letter from a concerned Brazeau County resident, Whaley says they felt that forming a Mayor’s Task Force on the Unhoused to determine whether they had exhausted all options with the homeless population in the community, or if there were still others they could consider.
“The makeup of the proposed committee is going to be fairly in depth so that it covers all possible aspects,” says Whaley.
The Town, the County, the RCMP, Alberta Health Services, Opportunity Home, Community Peace Officers, Warming Hearts and any other organization that works with the homeless will each have one seat on the committee. The remaining four seats will be given to four members at large who live within the Town limits.
Whaley says the wide variety of services and support that will be represented on the committee will allow them to get a clear picture of which programs are currently being used, which could be used, and which programs are not practical or financially feasible.
Applications will be posted on the Town’s website and on social media. She says any resident of Drayton Valley can apply.
“The only stipulation, as this is a Town of Drayton Valley initiative, so, you must reside within Drayton Valley in order to participate,” says Whaley.
She says the hope is that the four members at large, regardless of their opinions, represent large groups of people that they can give feedback to. They could also bring the thoughts of those groups to the committee.
Whaley says the Town considered having an open house, but there are some drawbacks to that type of forum for this situation.
“Often those get taken over by loud voices and there is no actual feedback going in and then going out,” says Whaley.
The end result of these meetings will be a draft final report, hopefully available for council around mid-October.
“I know we’re dealing with summer and people’s vacations, this will allow for a good amount of time for people to express their opinions to the representatives of the committee and for that to be gathered and something going back,” says Whaley.
She says they want to have it done in the fall so that any recommended outcomes can be considered for the 2026 budget.
While no specifics have been decided upon, Whaley says the committee will likely consider different approaches to getting feedback from County residents, such as a survey.
Amanda Jeffery,
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Drayton Valley and District Free Press
